Yemeni President Ali Adbulla Saleh is adamantly insisting that he will receive medical treatment in the United States for his war wounds. President Obama’s decision to allow or reject Saleh will either anger millions or send recruits directly to Al Qaeda.

Now Saleh is demanding medical attention in the United States, cornering the United States into a lose-lose situation.

If the government allows the tyrant to receive medical treatment this will be a stunning blow to the Arab Spring. Saleh has killed nearly two thousand of protesters and soldiers fighting for a more honest government. By providing medical treatment, rather than arresting, Saleh the United States is condoning his actions. Just allowing him into the country communicates to the world that America is okay with those who orchestrate genocide. The revolutionaries, American peace activists, and American Muslim community would all be outraged. These groups are gaining more power every year, while doing good, it would be disastrous to take this humanitarian route.

However, America also is endangered if Obama blocks Saleh’s visit.

American investment in the Arabian Peninsula is critical to our national security. Al Qaeda splinter cells have nested and flourished in Yemen during this last year of strife while the separatist Houthis are forming a small nation-state in northern Yemen. The country is the very definition of destabilized.

If America rejects Saleh it aggravates the country. Loyalists across Yemen will be aggravated by their president’s rejects. Al Qaeda will utilize the incident for recruiting. After the rejection many Yemenis will have a lot of undirected anger at the Americans. Who better than Al Qaeda to take advantage of anti-American sentiments.

Like I said, this is a lose-lose situation: either Obama antagonizes the Muslim world or arms Al Qaeda.

This microcosm of the results of the Arab Spring reflects the part the Western World will play after the tyrants from Bahrain to Syria are cast out. Governments in exile, royal families, and other unwanted pre-Arab Spring structures will flee to Europe and America for safety. This incident displays the question: should we take in butchers while angering own citizens or reject killers and build a more fearsome terrorist threat. There are no easy answers.

Personally, I believe all dictators of genocide should have access to medical treatments, such as electric chairs and firing squads.

The Arab Spring is a double-edged sword: on one hand it lays the groundwork for democracy in the Middle East while in other regions untraceable terrorism is proliferated. This dark threat is Terrorism 2.0.

These arrests are notable because these cells never trained with or contacted Al Qaeda. The only linking thread between the two is their terrifying ideology. The zeitgeist of terrorist threat has become more nebulous as more independent cells threaten international stability.

Who Are These Independent Terrorists?

They are the foot soldiers of Terrorism 2.0.

Regardless of where new terrorists crop up all recruits have several similar characteristics. First, they are indignant and horrified by perceived Western aggressions against Islam. Second, economic, political, and social woes are largely attributed to the “Western menace.” Finally, converts join with fanatic groups to carry out plots of death and destruction. That is what makes them terrorists.

Al Qaeda previously scooped up these radicals, crafting them into walking bombs. That was Terrorism 1.0; today we live in a brave new world. After a decade of full-fledged war against Al Qaeda new converts now have to train themselves because Al Qaeda is too weak to train them. Members of Terrorism 2.0 plot in Internet forums and work independently from any central organization.

New terrorists have little training, but they are hard to pick out of the larger population. Al Qaeda is now more of a social movement than a structure organization. These independent terrorists are just well publicized guerrillas. Regardless, they are still a notable threat.

Is Islam a Religion For Terrorists?

No.

Islam is inherently a good and ethical religion. For example, one of the core values Islam stresses alms giving. Islamic priests preach the same moral qualities that their Christian counterparts do. The only major distinction between the religions is that Islam believes in religious prophets after Jesus, culminating with Muhammad, and Christians do not. The majority of followers of the Islamic faith, Muslims, do not subscribe to any part of the extremist philosophy that has made Islam infamous.

Many uneducated critics point to the term of Jihad to justify contempt of Muslims. Jihad not a reason to hate Islam, instead it is a core justification behind why the faith is a good. This term has many definitions, ranging from a tough internal struggle to a secular war in the defense of Islam. At its heart, Jihad is the goal of every Muslims to aspire to do the right thing despite external coercion and internal desires. This is the same value taught to kindergarteners. There is nothing inherently threatening about Jihads.

How Should We View Terrorism 2.0?

The independent terrorists are the TEA Party of the Middle East.

Both are simply religious fanatics acting on rampant bigotry. For example, both share anti-Semitic targets and religiously conservative methodologies. Only the specific religion of the two is different; the TEA Party has Christianity while the Muslim terrorists have Islam. Both faiths are equally dangerous in these wrong hands.

Only once Jihad is polarized to the point of suicide bombings does it become dangerous. Of course, Christianity is also dangerous once it has been weaponized by the TEA Party and fired upon minorities, such as the homosexual population.

The English translation of Aakask is “sky.” This tablet’s release will mark the beginning of a new dawn in education in India and the world.

What Does Aakash Mean For The Tablet Market?

Datawind, the private company manufacturing Aakash, announced that the tablet will be priced at $60 dollars for the commercial market. It will be on shelves by November. This will encroach on the tablet war already progressing in India; currently Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 7 holds just under half the market and less than one in five tablets is an Apple Ipad. Dozens of other models struggle for niches. The vanguard shipment of Aakash tablets numbers 100,000. When this large-scale field test proves successful eight to ten million more will be bought by the Indian government.

Undercutting the more expensive tablets the Aakash will force innovation and a price war. Aakash forces a technological survival of the fittest; the best and cheapest technologies will overthrow the more expensive models. The economist term for this is creative destruction.

Unless other companies build a better tablet they very simply will be locked out of the market. The cunning Indian government will disseminate cheaper and higher quality tablets, with internet access, by forcing the hand of the private sector.

What Does This Mean for the Future of Indian Education?

At the unveiling today Kapil Sibal, the Indian Human Resource Minister, aptly described Aakash’s historic significance,

“There are some moments in history that will be milestones recognised by future generations. This is one such milestone. Today, we see the beginning of a dream realised, a dream in which every student in every corner of this country will have access to technology that defines the 21st Century.”

By bringing the world to the fingertips of their students schools towards increasing the quality of education exponentially. Answers to impossible questions will be just a click away.